Bandolier Media is a small office with big talent. Though it has only four employees, this home-grown Austin, Texas, agency has brought on bold-faced name clients including Shell and Home Depot and is on track to hit $1 million in revenue for the first time by the end of 2019—nearly double the total of two years ago.
The content-creation shop is affectionately said to have started with “Beer Pong Anthem,” a song about every college party’s favorite tabletop sport that went viral. It was created by Bandolier founders Dan Stone, George Ellis and Lou Montemayor, who opened their agency to do for clients what they’d done for themselves by generating attention and followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Through Classic Dad, Bandolier’s internet brand that publishes “dad humor, dad jokes and dad news,” the agency has been able to create content and register millions of impressions for some of every father’s favorite brands, including Scotts Lawn Care, Milwaukee Tool, Kingsford Charcoal and Weber Grills. In addition to producing branded content, Classic Dad, which has a social-media following of more than 750,000, also has a successful clothing line.